The Headwall Blog

Christopher Van Veen

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As remote sensing evolves, users across all applications are discovering the value of adding LiDAR instruments to a hyperspectral payload. First, instruments of all types are getting smaller and lighter. Second, UAVs are more capable than ever in terms of carrying capacity and airborne stability. Finally, users across agriculture, minerals and mining, and environmental research can now collect a full suite of useful data at one time. With powerful GPS/IMU devices to tie the data streams together, a completely integrated hyperspectral-LiDAR airborne package is now the 'gold standard' for many remote sensing missions.

In Amsterdam this week, more than 40 attendees at the IEEE SpectroExpo-WHISPERS conference have participated in a field test of Headwall's Nano-Hyperspec® VNIR sensor. VNIR is shorthand for 'Visible-Near-Infrared,' and the sensor collects image data from 400-1000nm across 270 spectral bands and 640 spatial pixels.

Our customers come to us with missions that range from crop disease detection to infrastructure inspection, from environmental monitoring to pollution analysis. Hyperspectral imaging sensors provide a wealth of high-resolution data in the near-infrared and shortwave infrared ranges...beyond human vision. But we see an increasing level of integration occurring where hyperspectral rides alongside instruments such as thermal, LiDAR, and GPS/IMUs. The data streams coming from each instrument need to be synthesized ('data fusion') but the instruments themselves need to be positioned and located on the UAV to assure a balanced airborne package.

Each year at a different United States location, the XPONENTIAL show brings together technologies that improve some of the most fascinating missions across both commercial and government/defense applications. The just-concluded show in Denver was no exception, and you can clearly see the evolution of the event over the years.

Initially known as AUVSI, the conference obviously showcases airborne platforms. Now, the focus of 'XPONENTIAL' is as much about payloads and instruments as it is on the latest in drone technology. What we hear in our own business we heard at the show: "I have challenges that drones and imaging sensors can solve, but I need help getting everything integrated."

Remote sensing with hyperspectral sensors is a combination of several elements: an imaging spectrometer and a fast data processing system to acquire and analyze spectral and spatial data. For remote sensing missions such as crop disease or invasive species detection, the spectral range of most interest is the visible-near-infrared (VNIR) from 400-1000nm.

Humans have a marvelous ability to see and identify objects within what is called the visible range of the electromagnetic spectrum. That starts at roughly 380 nanometers and goes up to around 700 nanometers or so.

Headwall's hyperspectral imaging sensors are used around the globe for a wide variety of remote sensing missions. Hyperspectral sensors can see well beyond the limits of human vision, which runs to about 700 nanometers (nm). Many of the scientific research projects demand the ability to see into the infrared ranges, often up to and beyond 2500nm.

In 2016 Headwall embarked on a mission of volunteerism. The small, 50-person technology company headquartered in Fitchburg understood that the community it called home was also home to disadvantaged families in need. So beginning with a variety of projects throughout the area, Headwall employees embraced the opportunity to ‘give back’ by partnering with a local charitable organization called Our Father’s House.

“Our goals were twofold,” said Robin Jacobs of Headwall. “We wanted to help out wherever the need arose and we wanted to have broad employee participation,” she said. In addition to sprucing up neighborhoods and planting trees, Headwall and its employees purchased and assembled hundreds of ‘personal care kits’ for disadvantaged people in the area. “It really was a fun experience each time we assembled these kits,” said Robin. “We all knew we were putting a smile on someone’s face and making their difficult life a little less difficult.”

Headwall had almost 100% employee participation in purchasing new gifts for area children.

The corporate environment is always a bustling one: Getting and shipping orders, building sensors, designing new products, and maneuvering through a seemingly endless stream of meetings. But at Headwall, we take the opportunity to ‘give back’ to several central Massachusetts communities with families in need. This can range from assembling ‘personal care kits’ to cleaning and beautifying neighborhoods. This happens several times during the year, and is a part of Headwall's ongoing pledge to donate and contribute wherever possible to those less fortunate.

In Manteca, CA about 90 minutes south of Sacramento sits Travaille and Phippen, a family-run business focused on processing the world's finest almonds. Manteca sits at the heart of California's agricultural valley, which is ripe with growers and processing companies of everything from avocados to nuts. Chances are, the produce that you pick up at your local grocery store comes from this fertile part of California that stretches hundreds of miles from north to south.